1. The Knowledge of The Incarnation

I. The union of the Divinity with humanity is called by St. Paul “the mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to His saints” (Col. i. 26). Even in our own sphere we cannot detect the point of union between our body and soul, or the manner of it. Still farther beyond us is this most marvellous operation of the Omnipotent Trinity. It is beyond all our experience, and imagination, and desire. It is indeed “a new thing upon the earth” (Jer. xxxi. 22). The angels even cannot comprehend this novelty beyond all other novelties and without example. In order to grasp it with our intelligence and fathom its profundities of ingenuity (so to speak) and beauty, we should need a full comprehension of the mystery of the Three Persons in Unity. In order to accept it, we need the infused power of faith from God, spiritual vision, and the light of God’s countenance shining upon us. Reason cannot discover it or explain it, but only approve its reasonableness. How many there are from whom even now this mystery is hidden, who apprehend it most imperfectly, or to whom it is anything but a living reality! Be grateful to God for revealing it to you, and ask Him to enlighten your mind in meditating on it.

II. Nothing can profit us more than reflection on the different aspects of the Incarnation. “To know Thee is perfect justice; and to know Thy justice and Thy power is the root of immortality” (Wisd. xv. 3). Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God to man. This is the best book for us to study, the compendium of our perfection in the natural, the intellectual and the spiritual life. It raises us at once out of this feverish, sordid, deceptive sphere into a purer, brighter atmosphere It gives us true and satisfying views about all things, and co-ordinates all the facts of the universe. We find in it the noblest model of human action, strength to endure adversity with courage, the example of the virtues of every state of life. We may learn from it the true nature of sin, its destructive effects, the method of resisting it and doing penance for it; we are assured of redemption from our sins, and are brought into union with supreme goodness. The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the divine promise to draw us with the cords of Adam (Osee xi. 4). Mankind have always craved to possess God visibly and tangibly; this great doctrine satisfies that desire. Devote yourself to a serious study of Jesus Christ, and this not intellectually only, but practically and devotionally.

III. The knowledge of the Incarnation is necessary for salvation. “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3). None can accomplish their necessary development unless they grasp the truth that God became man and died for us; rejecting this, they cannot properly know and serve and love God. Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life (John xiv. 6). Without Him we cannot find the right path, we walk in ignorance of the principal science of all, we tend towards social and spiritual death. But our knowledge must be accompanied by love and complete obedience; otherwise it is a mere theoretical and ineffective knowledge, and will lead Him to say to us one day, “Amen I say to you, I know you not” (Matt. xxv. 12). This doctrine is the corner-stone of Christianity, and on it has been built up all our civilization, progress and happiness. All the evils of life are the result of ignoring Jesus Christ, His law, and His Church. Let it not be said of you that you have been interested in all except the saving knowledge: “the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood” (Isa. i. 3).